City Hall Diary

Large organizations often wrestle with enterprise software implementations. They are often promised big returns, quick implementations, user friendly programs and then—the real “kicker”—that costs will not exceed a certain given price.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Cite Dignity, Embarrassment, Shame and Stupidity

In a move without precedent in the city’s history, San Jose City Council Members Pyle, Campos, Williams and Chirco, have decided to relinquish their posts rather than suffer the humiliation of professional ridicule, personal disparagement and possible public stoning.

Much to nobody’s surprise, the San Jose Grand Prix is dead. Apparently, it committed suicide. The laughably dubious reason given by the organizers for its demise is that downtown development is happening at such a scorching pace that the property where one of the main grandstands is located is going to be built on and there isn’t another location for the race’s premium seating structure. The Grand Prix directors say that they have always been aware that the construction on the property would happen. If they had done their homework, then they must have also known that it would mean the end of the race. Did they keep this fact to themselves? 

You may have missed it, but recently the police forces of San Jose and other cities in Santa Clara County merged with the Sheriff’s Department to form one large and coordinated police unit. This new Metro-County Police Force will allow a level of service unequalled in local or even California history. It will be responsible to a 13-member board consisting of both elected officials and appointed citizens with a law enforcement background.

A fact that I wouldn’t normally like to admit I am willing to admit to you for the sake of an article. I actually planned on attending tomorrow night’s Justin Timberlake concert at the Shark Tank. I was excited as I (another humdinger) watched him perform on the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night and was actually looking forward to a night out of dancing and being entertained. Regardless of what you think of him, his music, or his taste, he is an entertainer, and they are a dying breed in this world.

City Hall Diary

Grocery stores are an important element of our neighborhoods. They remind me of libraries and parks: a place that is usually open and serves everyone. Some of my fondest memories of childhood include grocery stores—whether it was cooling down on a hot day in the freezer section or spending my paper route money on snacks. Of course, those were the days when one dollar could get a kid four candy bars (which led to my 38-inch waist in elementary school!).

Lead Poisoning Caused Temporary Spinelessitis

Just days after Supervisor Don Gage vowed to shut down the county fair if it didn’t turn a profit, he was singing its praises after it lost $416,000, the most since 1998. A few hours later, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with a rare form of spinelessitis caused by lead poisoning he suffered from the made-in-China, Mattel Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toy that he keeps on his desk.

The report in the Mercury News yesterday that mandatory water rationing in Silicon Valley may soon be a reality is not unexpected. The decision of the judge to limit the flow of water through the Sacramento River Delta—which supplies 50 percent of our needs—to protect an endangered smelt is largely due to inadequate rainfall this past year and the crumbling delta infrastructure that desperately needs attention. There is only so much water available even at the best of times, but we are in a drought year and there could be many more to follow. It isn’t unheard of and the situation could get a lot worse.

On a “quiet” Sunday night in downtown San Jose—the evening of August 26—over 30 police officers were called to quell a large disturbance at the Scores/Raw nightclub on South First Street. While the officers were dealing with the ugly scene and arresting 12 patrons, another customer cut loose with a semi-automatic weapon directly into the crowd and toward the officers. Miraculously, no one was hit.

As Labor Day weekend comes to a close, we bid farewell to another summer gone by.  Schools are in session, fewer people go out of town on the weekends, and we all get back to our normal routines. Though this summer was full of time at the beach in Santa Cruz or weekend trips to Lake Tahoe, there is something comforting about getting back into the swing of things. So I thought we could all make suggestions on things to look forward to this fall as our summer ends.

City Hall Diary

At the August 28 city council evening meeting, the council spent over two hours deliberating on where to put the park that is part of the Irvine Development in North San Jose. This item was continued from the August 14 meeting where the council discussed it at length until 1 a.m.

Experience and Change of Plea Deciding Factors

Disgraced Senator Larry Craig of Idaho has decided to resign his post in the U.S. Senate—after increasingly vociferous calls for his removal—in exchange for relocating to San Jose to take over the vacant city auditor post.

The latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau places San Jose at the top of the list of the nation’s richest cities with a population greater than 500,000 with our median income of $73,804. Santa Clara County was second (to Marin County) in the nation in its category, showing a median income of $80,838. (Since there are a lot of gazillionaires in the city and county it means that in order to achieve the median, there must be a hell of a lot of people living on much less than the winning figures.) The average rise in income over the past year was around $1,300.

The Business Journal so much reminds me of that old saying about editors: that they “come in after the battle and shoot the wounded.”  Never was it truer than in their recent editorial about Cirque du Soleil. They have been absent in past years concerning the takeover of City Hall by lobbyists; absent on the unconscionable stealing of our future by the transfer of 1400 acres of industrial tax base to residential housing; absent on any meaningful discussion of the proper support for small businesses in the downtown; and absurdly critical of candidate Chuck Reed on some relatively minor issues in the recent election. Not much of a record.

Last week a friend forwarded an email to me about Stanford Medical School and how they might be looking to relocate their school in order to best serve their students’ needs.  Now I know that they have filed for relocation, but I cannot find much to substantiate that they may be looking outside of Palo Alto for a home. This brings up a few interesting topics. Why couldn’t San Jose be the home for Stanford Medical School?  And in that vein, why couldn’t Santa Clara University or San Jose State open a medical school in our town? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what major city in the U.S. finds themselves in the same boat as San Jose in that we don’t have a hospital in our city core? I can’t imagine that you won’t find a major hospital in Detroit or Chicago.

City Hall Diary

On Thursday, August 23, 2007, the elected officials of the City of San Jose and Santa Clara County met to talk about five top priorities that affect the city and county. City and county staff attended, including San Jose City Manager Debra Figone and County Executive Pete Kutras.